Disband Fulani Vigilante Group Now, HURIWA Tells Tinubu

Sensing subterranean motives to cause uprising, invade farming communities and capture lands of natives for grazing, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked President Bola Tinubu to disband the Nomad Volunteer Vigilante Group launched in Nasarawa State.

This vigilante group established by Miyetti Allah, according to HURIWA, was an attempt to usurp the functions of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), which, constitutionally, was the only legal policing institution in the country.

In a statement, yesterday, HURIWA said it was unconstitutional that military commanders and top police officers attended the public inauguration of the group by Miyetti Allah KautalHore, thereby giving it official imprimatur.

It noted that immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari unleashed the full weight of armed military forces drawn from Maiduguri in Borno State to crush a similar volunteer group set up by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Till date, it added, over 500 Igbo youths had been killed by the military in their hot chase of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) members.

HURIWA recalled that the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, a Fulani socio-cultural association, launched the Nomad Volunteer Vigilante Group on Wednesday, comprising 1,144 carefully selected, screened and profiled volunteers.

The rights group said the initiators of the vigilante, which it suspected might be armed and dangerous, even as those weapons might have been concealed from public view.

National President of Miyetti Allah, Abdullahi Bodejo, emphasised that the volunteer vigilantes would strictly adhere to the country’s existing laws during their operations.

During the inauguration in Lafia, Bodejo urged the volunteer vigilantes to work in collaboration with the Army, Police and other security agencies to ensure a more comprehensive approach to security across the 13 local councils of Nasarawa.

HURIWA said: “It is illegal and unconstitutional for herders to set up a vigilante, whereas farmers, traders, teachers, clerics in Nasarawa do not have similar privilege backed by a section of the armed forces present at the inauguration of the Fulani herders’ vigilante.”

It, therefore, called on Tinubu to disband the Fulani vigilante, else all ethnic nationalities would, henceforth, set up their vigilantes, adding that since the Army and Police fully supported Miyetti Allah in the establishment of private security outfit, which was just an ethnic army, then the Federal Government can’t stop the proliferation of ethnic armies all over the country.